Dale Hathaway Social Action Scholarship

Remember Dale and carry on his work for peace and justice

You can make this possible by donating to an endowed scholarship which will provide an annual scholarship to a Butler University student who is active in peace or social justice organizations on campus or who is pursuing an internship with such a group off campus.

Scholarship Information (PDF)
Scholarship Application (MS Word)

The Hathaway Scholarship
c/o Margie Stout
Development Office
Butler University, 4600 Sunset Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46208
(317) 940-8599

Dale Hathaway (Oct 20, 1951 - May 22, 2002)

In Memory - Dale Hathaway was a man of compassion and conviction. In his professional life, he was a dedicated teacher, scholar, and activist. He was equally committed to his roles as husband, father, mentor, and friend. While searching always for ways to hasten the arrival of justice and the betterment of the community, Dale also found beauty and meaning in song, sufi dancing, yoga, and the shared silence of the Quaker and Buddhist traditions.

Dale was born in Cincinnati, and he grew up in Minnesota and Ohio. He was a talented student, and he spent most of his summers working on his cousins' and uncles' farms in Beach and Bismarck, North Dakota. His inclinations toward political activism and scholarship emerged at an early age; in 1962, when he was just ten years old, Dale wrote a letter to President Kennedy that began, "DO NOT!! resume nuclear testing! I have quotes to back me in saying this." From seventh through eleventh grade, he was the star of the football team, and even contemplated going pro. In the twelfth grade, however, a new coach established a harsh routine that included a congratulatory "blood bench" for players who drew blood from their teammates during practice. Repulsed by the violence, Dale left the team and gave up his career as a football player. He was valedictorian of his class, but, during his senior year, Dale managed to be suspended for his longer-than-allowed sideburns, and possibly also for his outspoken political views.

In accounting for his early worklife and professional development, Dale once wrote that "as a starving artist, I survived as a dishwasher, cab driver, apple picker, elder, carpenter and solar designer, before receiving a BA in Economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1982 and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Cornell University in 1990." After he completed his doctorate, Dale joined Butler's Department of Political Science, offering courses in U.S. politics, including the presidency and congress, public policy, and campaigns and elections. He especially cherished teaching innovative courses such as Politics through Film, The Role of Protest in U.S. Politics, and his senior seminar, Democracy Among Giants (spring 2002). He was also devoted to Butler's core course, Change and Tradition, for which he was faculty coordinator. He was leading a C&T faculty development travel seminar on modern Europe when he was stricken by a sudden illness in Florence, Italy.

Over the years, Dale mentored many students as they completed their internships and apprenticeships in Political Science. He was active in Amnesty International, and he helped to start the Gender Studies minor at Butler. In the aftermath of September 11, he organized and presided over a forum on "Understanding Islam," and he helped to establish Butler for Peace. He provided leadership and a voice of reason to fellow members of the Butler Academic Grants committee and the Executive Committee of the Faculty Assembly, as well as to his colleagues in Political Science and Change and Tradition

Dale's service to the University was complemented by his commitments in the larger community and world. He was often called to speak on topics ranging from electoral politics to workers' rights in Mexico and the United States. His research focused on the possibilities for ordinary people to improve their lives through participation and organization. In his first book, Can Workers Have a Voice? The Politics of Deindustrialization in Pittsburgh (1993), Dale examined the potential for workers to collaborate with religious and political organizations to re-establish their rights. His second book, Allies Across the Border: Mexico's Authentic Labor Front and Global Solidarity (2000) showed how workers could organize to secure their rights while maintaining and fostering human dignity. In both the United States and Mexico, Dale talked with, lived with and sometimes worked with the people he was writing about.

Even as he was teaching his classes and writing his books, Dale was a tireless activist for peace and social justice. With his wife, Dot, Dale served as a mediator for Reaching Common Ground and for the Marion County Superior Court, Juvenile Division. He was President and Board Member for the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center. He served as Chair of the progressive third-party alternative, Our Party, which slated John Gibson for Mayor and candidates for the City-County Council in the 1999 elections. And, most recently, he was a leading voice in the Campaign for a Living Wage in Indianapolis.

Beyond his work as a professor and activist, Dale was devoted to his four children, Mehera, River, Dove and Forest. He and Dot were married in 1993, after they fell in love at a sufi dance. At a surprisingly early age, Dale had already become a doting grandfather to Jonah, Irie, Dante and Sebastian.

Dale was universally known for the kindness and fellowship that he showed to all, even in times of adversity. To those around him, Dale's luminous smile and gentle personality seemed as constant and reliable as the sun rising each day. His departure is hard to fathom, but he has left us with a wealth of memories that sustain us in our hour of loss. Dale's optimism and his unfailing confidence that he could make a difference must now become our optimism and our confidence.